One of the worst movies I've ever seen
... View MoreHighly Overrated But Still Good
... View MoreIt's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
... View MoreYour blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.
... View More"Rabbit Hole" is not going to be a movie for everyone. It is "slow" by any standard, there isn't a lot of resolution present, and the tone is quite somber throughout. What the film does feature, however, are some of the best acting performances you will ever see, as well as a unflinching look at grief and how one couple try to cope with it.For a basic plot summary, "Rabbit Hole" focuses on Becca (Nicole Kidman) & Howie (Aaron Eckhart), a couple who lost their young son in a terrible accident. Each try to cope with that grief in their own way, with Becca turning to family--especially mother Nat (Dianne Wiest), who suffered a similar tragedy in the family--even when anger is the usual resolution, and Howie potentially finding solace in new group therapy partner Gabby (Sandra Oh). Becca also even goes so far as to stay in contact with Jason (Miles Teller), the perpetrator of the tragedy. Will they continue to drift apart, though neither of them truly want that to happen, or will they find some way to reconcile their grief and make things work?At some point in everyone's life, they will experience intense grief or a tragedy of some kind. Life makes this almost inevitable. After these tragedies occurs, there usually comes a point where life takes one of two paths: You either fully live within the grief, or you decide to try and move forward, even in small ways. That is what "Rabbit Hole" is all about. Becca & Howie are at that stage where "something needs to happen", yet neither person knows exactly what that is or how they should proceed. This makes for some incredible, emotional, and also rather difficult material throughout the movie.A film like this will either be made or broken by the acting performances, and fortunately they all shine here. In all honesty, this is some of the best acting I have ever seen on screen. Considering that the movie is only about 90-some minutes long, I consider it quite a feat that I was completely and utterly invested in the characters by the end. While it takes a good idea and a good script to do that too, just as much credit should be given to the emotional performances.Like all of us, I have experienced grief both myself and inside my family, and thus I found myself very much relating to what the principals here were going through. Grief is a confusing, sad, and confounding thing, which is why "Rabbit Hole" is so powerful and melancholy at the same time. I found that to be a fascinating and riveting mix.Overall, "Rabbit Hole" won't go down as one of my all-time favorite single films. Its scope isn't big enough for that. What I will remember it for, however, is its ability to accurately and emotional portray a realistic rendering of the grief and mourning process. If you don't mind a slower-paced film, and one filled with often conflicting emotions, "Rabbit Hole" will be a sort of unheralded gem for you to add to your film-watching experience.
... View MoreI have to preface this review by saying I only watched the first 20 minutes. While part of me says it's not fair to do that, a bigger part of me says that if you fall at the first hurdle you fall at the first hurdle. If I only lasted 20 minutes then it is bound to be the same for others and therefore I think my comments are as valid as any and it is only fair to warn people.I have to say that I was bored before the opening credits ended. We see a well heeled woman planting plants in her well heeled garden in a well heeled suburb. This is all so bourgeois I have emotionally tuned out already. Inside her perfect house we meet her well heeled husband, improbably called Howie of all things. The husband is played by Aaron Eckhard who is just hopelessly miscast - he seems like someone who just popped out of a GI Joe action figure mold and it is just impossible to imagine him in a loving husband role. Neither the wife nor husband seem to actually do anything although she sometimes drives round her perfect neighbourhood in her perfect car. After a while we learn that their son was killed in a tragic accident 8 months ago, but really, sad as that might be, we just can't feel a shred of sympathy for these perfect people. They go to support group meetings where people say ridiculous things like "I guess God must have wanted another angel". While to her credit the woman finds this as stupid as I did, it is hard to comprehend the point of this within the movie. After 8 months the woman will still not have sex with her husband, but again we really don't care, because, do people like this actually exist? We are introduced to the wife's neer-do-well sister, someone even less likable than the central characters, hard as that is to believe. The sister is pregnant and although I did not see the conclusion of this little angle it seemed fairly obvious this would be source of friction, guilt and jealousy between the two, something that appealed to me about as much as eating glass shards.And that's about as far as I got folks. I will never know why they called it "The Rabbit Hole", but I can live with that for the sake of my mental health. May you enjoy it more than I did....
... View Moreabout past. and the fight against its shadows. a bitter story animated by an admirable acting. because Nicole Kidmann does a significant role, exploring the nuances of role ,Dianne Wiest seems be the perfect choice for the role of mother, Miles Teller as really nice surprise . the atmosphere, the story, the filming angles are beautiful bricks for a memorable artistic creation. despite the common points with many other films on same films with same theme, it has, in few scenes, the flavor of revelation. and that is basis of its freshness. a touching story and an inspired manner to translate it in image. that is all. not complicated but seductive.
... View MoreNicole Kidman is known for doing risky films, some which pay off some which don't, this definitely being one of the former. I found this film to be worthwhile watching. Firstly due to the performance by the whole cast. Nicole, Aaron, Dianne and the rest give stellar performances. Secondly the story itself. Its not about the sorrow of losing a child but how they cope with the grief. Becca and Howie cope with their grief in different ways, which leads to conflict between the two at first, Becca reaching out to Jason and Howie reaching out to Gabby, but in the end we see that they will heal together and be together. I saw rabbit hole a few times and each time I find a different scene that I find to be the 'best' scene. For me when I watched it yesterday was when Becca slaps the mother in the supermarket and realized what she has just done. there are many such best scenes. The script is brilliant. the acting not over the top nor melodramatic. John Cameron Mitchell gets the maximum from the script and the cast making it a moving drama without melodrama which I hate. Overall a fantastic movie deserving more recognition and I feel it would with time to come
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